The final year

In this gentle and simultaneously amusing, yet ominous, autobiographical novel, Ilse Tielsch describes the events of 1938 on the Austrian-Czech border, as seen through the eyes of a bright-eyed and curious ten-year-old girl. We watch as the divisive vitriol of Hitler's politics destroys the sense of community that had prevailed between speakers of Czech and German, as the awareness of ethnic differences comes to divide people, and as people mysteriously begin to disappear from the town. Throughout the year, Elfi's parents are increasingly reluctant to answer questions; though they attempt to keep Elfi ignorant of politics, the reader understands before she does what tragic events are building momentum in this region. Elfi's narrative gives vivid life to the personal histories that are taking place against the background of larger historical events.